Hot night for Yankees, but cold days await

July 3, 2008

More and more, it's looking like the last important game at Yankee Stadium will be one that doesn't even count.

Recent columns

• Hot night for Yankees, but cold days await

  July 3, 2008

  More and more, it's looking like the last important game at Yankee Stadium will be one that doesn't even count.

• Fans just happy to be there

  July 1, 2008

  They were doing the wave at Yankee Stadium last night, in the seventh inning of a game the home team needed to win but was in the process of losing.

• Manuel right on, but telling truth is no-no

  June 30, 2008

  Jerry Manuel has one very important lesson to learn about managing in this town: Honesty is the worst policy. Candor will get you nowhere. No manager in New York history ever lost a job for lying, but the truth has set more than a few free to manage elsewhere.

• Manuel is right on

  June 29, 2008

  Jerry Manuel has one very important lesson to learn about managing in this town: Honesty is the worst policy. Candor will get you nowhere. No manager in New York history ever lost a job for lying, but the truth has set more than a few free to manage elsewhere.

• Mets' Beltran finally wakes up only to get tossed

  June 25, 2008

  In the space of three days, the Mets have gone from Team Gangsta to Team Dumpsta.

• Mets' Beltran finally wakes up only to get tossed

  June 25, 2008

  In the space of three days, the Mets have gone from Team Gangsta to Team Dumpsta.

• Mets' real problem lies with Minaya

  June 24, 2008

  Come to think of it, maybe the Mets did Willie Randolph a favor last Tuesday morning in Anaheim. After their non-performance Monday night against the hopeless Seattle Mariners, that midnight assassination is looking more and more like euthanasia.

• Mets' real problem lies with Minaya

  June 24, 2008

  Come to think of it, maybe the Mets did Willie Randolph a favor last Tuesday morning in Anaheim. After their non-performance last night against the hopeless Seattle Mariners, that midnight assassination is looking more and more like euthanasia.

• New Mets? Nah, loss shows its just same old club

  June 24, 2008

  They're sowing the seeds of something out there at Shea Stadium, tilling that fertile soil, in the now-infamous description of Jerry Manuel, hoping something wonderful will bloom.

• No excuse for late scratch

  June 20, 2008

  WASHINGTON

• No-show Dutrow no help in cleaning up racing

  June 19, 2008

  Just like his horse on Belmont Stakes Day, Rick Dutrow was a no-show in his big appearance before Congress Thursday. This despite his assurances that he was ready and willing to tell everything he knew about the use of steroids in thoroughbred racing.

• Manuel takes over team of prima donnas

  June 18, 2008

  Jose Reyes might just as well have spit in his new manager's face, right there on the field.

• Matthews: Thank Wilpon's kid for another mess

  June 18, 2008

  The Mets somehow managed to botch June 2008 even worse than they had fouled up September 2007, and now here was Omar Minaya, a good man and a bad liar, trying like hell to deflect the shots headed for his boss.

• Wilpons are worst owners in town

  June 17, 2008

  In the end, the Wilpons treated Willie Randolph like he was one of the junkyard dealers across the street from CitiField, an eyesore and an annoyance to be cleared out as quickly and quietly as possible.

• Fred, you must go to bat for Willie

  June 17, 2008

  There is only one man in New York who can save Willie Randolph's job now. It is not Johan Santana or Carlos Beltran, David Wright or Jose Reyes, Billy Wagner or Pedro Martinez.

• Fred, you must go to bat for Willie

  June 16, 2008

  There is only one man in New York who can save Willie Randolph's job now. It is not Johan Santana or Carlos Beltran, David Wright or Jose Reyes, Billy Wagner or Pedro Martinez.

• Willie deserves better from Jeff Wilpon

  June 16, 2008

  And now, the dreadful charade goes on the road. Complete with all the false bravado, the curious bonhomie, the pre- and postgame interviews that seem more like a deathbed vigil over a body still very much alive, every question a variation on the same theme: "So tell us, Willie, how do you feel about your imminent demise?"

• Willie deserves better from Jeff Wilpon

  June 15, 2008

  And now, the dreadful charade goes on the road. Complete with all the false bravado, the curious bonhomie, the pre- and postgame interviews that seem more like a deathbed vigil over a body still very much alive, every question a variation on the same theme: "So tell us, Willie, how do you feel about your imminent demise?"

• Blame game continues in Big Brown camp

  June 10, 2008

  For the people who control Big Brown, the only race left is the match race between Rick Dutrow, the trainer, and Kent Desormeaux, the jockey, to determine which gets to keep his job.

• Blame game continues for Big Brown's connections

  June 10, 2008

  For the people who control Big Brown, the only race left is the match race between Rick Dutrow, the trainer, and Kent Desormeaux, the jockey, to determine which gets to keep his job.

• Defeat reminds us why the races are run

  June 8, 2008

  Once again, the Belmont Stakes reminds us that it is a lot easier to join the list of horses who haven't won the Triple Crown than the list of those that have.

• Defeat reminds us why the races are run

  June 7, 2008

  Once again, the Belmont Stakes reminds us that it is a lot easier to join the list of horses who haven't won the Triple Crown than the list of those that have.

• Feel-good story has an underbelly

  June 7, 2008

  Michael Iavarone is not the sketchiest owner to saddle a horse for the Belmont Stakes with a chance to win the Triple Crown.

• Feel-good story has an underbelly

  June 6, 2008

  Michael Iavarone is not the sketchiest owner to saddle a horse for the Belmont Stakes with a chance to win the Triple Crown.

• Sour milkshake shakes up two horse trainer's lives

  June 5, 2008

  On Saturday, Rick Dutrow and Greg Martin will be separated by a few miles but linked by one racehorse.

• Sour milkshake shakes up two horse trainer's lives

  June 4, 2008

  On Saturday, Rick Dutrow and Greg Martin will be separated by a few miles but linked by one racehorse.

• No place like home for Manchester's Hatton

  May 25, 2008

  MANCHESTER, England

• No place like home for Manchester's Hatton

  May 24, 2008

  Oh, yes, you can go home again, especially if you bring along your own referee.

• Randolph not adjusting well to his own city

  May 21, 2008

  He came from Holly Hill, S.C., almost 50 years ago and beat the odds, somehow made it through the minefield of Brownsville unscathed to get to the major leagues. He cut his baseball teeth at Yankee Stadium back when it was known as the Bronx Zoo. He played under George, for Billy and alongside Reggie. He was supposed to be able to handle anything this town could throw at him.

• For Yankees, best days may be thing of past

  May 19, 2008

  It used to be so easy to be a Yankee fan. You'd flip on the TV in April, sit back for six months and wait for the victory parade in October.

• Mets waste game for Vargas and unfortunate fans

  May 15, 2008

  Casey Stengel used to have a standard line for nights like last night, nights when his team played poorly, listlessly, stupidly or a combination of the three.

• Is what Pats' Belichick did really spying shame?

  May 13, 2008

  For the past eight years, Bill Belichick has needed to spy on his opponents in order to win football games about as much as Richard Nixon needed to destroy Ed Muskie in order to win the 1972 presidential election.

• Inconsistent Perez finds his rhythm for Mets

  May 12, 2008

  Somewhere in the course of the past 11 days, the official Mets line on Oliver Perez has shifted, from "maddeningly inconsistent" to "endearingly quirky."

• With A-Rod out, Yanks don't strike fear in foes

  May 8, 2008

  The news coming out of the Yankees clubhouse was worse, in a way, than the news on the scoreboard. They hadn't been able to do much with Cliff Lee last night, but then, neither has anyone else so far this season. That came as no surprise.

• Blaming filly's jockey is silly, pure nonsense

  May 6, 2008

  'Momento y rapido."

• Hey, Hank: Reach out and touch someone

  May 4, 2008

  Hank Steinbrenner, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

• Timing of Hughes' injury a little suspicious

  May 1, 2008

  In the space of three hours, Phil Hughes' future went from bleak to oblique. In the same amount of time, the Yankees' position went from opaque to crystal clear.

• Defending Roger, for now

  April 29, 2008

  Now I know how Joe Torre felt.

• Defending Roger, for the moment

  April 28, 2008

  Now I know how Joe Torre felt.

• Under Hank, patience still no virtue in Yankeeland

  April 22, 2008

  You could see this one coming like an El Duque blooper ball, arcing slowly out of the sky from way back in January, when someone in the Yankees organization made the unprecedented decision to err on the side of patience, delayed gratification and fiscal restraint.

• Under Hank, patience is still no virtue in Yankeeland

  April 22, 2008

  You could see this one coming like an El Duque blooper ball, arcing slowly out of the sky from way back in January, when someone in the Yankees organization made the unprecedented decision to err on the side of patience, delayed gratification and fiscal restraint.

• Hawkins is cheered for having Bosox number

  April 17, 2008

  So now can LaTroy Hawkins have his old number back?

• Hawkins is cheered for having Bosox number

  April 17, 2008

  For one night at least, the numbers of LaTroy Hawkins' pitching line were more important than the number on his back.

• Money not buying happiness for Yankees, Mets

  April 15, 2008

  The Mets and Yankees have spent a combined $346,874,953 on ballplayers for the 2008 season. So far, this is what it has gotten them: 12 wins, 13 losses, third place in the National League East and fourth place in the American League East.

• These Mets won't rant and rave over losing a game

  April 14, 2008

  They are defiantly lackadaisical, willfully indifferent, blissfully unconcerned. It's only 11 games into the season, they say. Plenty of baseball left to play. It all comes down to a temporary lack of execution. A momentary loss of focus. Don't worry, the Mets insist. We'll be fine.

• Cheer up Mets fans: You can't collapse in April

  April 9, 2008

  Mets fans, look at the bright side: Your team will never disappoint as many of you on Opening Day as it did yesterday, ever again. Guaranteed.

• Old Mussina looks like his old self

  April 8, 2008

  You know the AL East standings are not going to stay this way all season, with the Baltimore Orioles on top, the Boston Red Sox at the bottom and the Yankees muddling somewhere in the middle.

• No first-year honeymoon for Girardi

  March 28, 2008

  If Charles Dickens hadn't already snagged it 150 years ago, there would have been no more appropriate title for a biography of Joe Girardi than this: "Great Expectations."

• Hard times, great memories for Joe Frazier

  March 6, 2008

  Joe Frazier's moment in time is frozen on the wall behind his head. The famous left hook has found its target, and the target is in that strange half-standing, half-sitting posture that fighters assume when their next stop is the floor.

• Pedro and Roger have got a lot of nerve

  February 28, 2008

  In the famous words of Curt Schilling, circa November 2001, Mystique and Aura weren't qualities the Yankees could rely on, merely "dancers at a nightclub."

• This probe is just a pain in the ...

  February 13, 2008

  It was shortly before noon, about two hours into the august proceedings, that the so-called hearing of the Congressional Oversight Committee into steroid abuse in baseball became, to borrow a particularly juicy bit of testimony, a palpable mass on my buttocks.

• Steroids foul baseball again

  February 12, 2008

  Some things never change. On the day pitchers and catchers will begin to trickle in at spring training camps across the country, for the 25th consecutive year Roger Clemens will prepare to take the hill.

• Tyree is a fitting Super Bowl hero for Giants

  February 6, 2008

  The one you don't see coming is often the sweetest of all. That is why of all the championships won by all the teams through all the years in this sports crazy town, the 1968 Jets, the '69 Mets and the '96 Yankees are the ones we remember most fondly.

• Belichick shows he has no class

  February 5, 2008

  Sometimes a man’s character, if not his whole life, can be encapsulated in the blink of an eye. For Scottie Pippen, it was the moment he decided to sit down rather than play out the last 1.8 seconds of a crucial playoff game when he learned the final shot would not be his. For Mike Tyson, it was the moment he decided it would be easier to bite his way out of a beating from Evander Holyfield than to face it.

• For Santana, big bucks mean big pressure

  February 4, 2008

  Johan Santana, welcome to the neighborhood.

• From my lips to Omar's ears?

  January 30, 2008

  You're welcome, Omar. You, too, Jeff.

• Long, misleading Clemens report to bore Congress

  January 29, 2008

  I think I have finally figured out the strategy being used by Roger Clemens and his alleged advisers in their increasingly silly-slash-desperate attempts to convince the world that the Rocket ran on clean fuel for the past 24 years.

• Now we share Ernie's vision

  January 22, 2008

  For more than five years, all Ernie Accorsi has had to go on was his gut and the words of Vince Lombardi: "If you see it, it's there."

• Pampered Clemens just doesn't seem to get it

  January 10, 2008

  I'm sick of Roger Clemens. I'm sick of people who think like him. I'm sick of people who think it's OK to think like him and I'm sick of people who make excuses for him.

• Wallace Matthews: Roger fails on "60 Minutes"

  January 7, 2008

  They stuck him in a lineup that would have protected even A-Rod in October, and still, Roger Clemens couldn't manage to look good.

• Snowing Wallace is one thing, Congress another

  January 5, 2008

  It's one thing to swear before Mike Wallace, but would Roger Clemens tell the same story if put under oath before a congressional committee?

• Clemens must be judged same way as Bonds

  December 14, 2007

  For the past 10 years, one guy has been treated like he's Nicky Barnes, the other like he's John Wayne.

• Clemens must be judged same way as Bonds

  December 14, 2007

  For the past 10 years, one guy has been treated like he's Nicky Barnes, the other like he's John Wayne.

• Lidle tragedy puts game in perspective

  October 11, 2006

  Wednesday was supposed to have been one of the great days in the history of baseball in this town, which covers a lot of great days and a lot of great history.